


Made You Laugh

by godbless_shitposting



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Can we just be nice to Ralph please, First Kiss, I am very tired, I didn't mean for that to happen, I said I wouldn't ship Barry with anyone else, I started writing this at exactly 1:33am, M/M, There's a fair amount of angst, Why did I spend precisely 2 hours and 7 minutes on this, and I did not stop, and then he had to go and make Ralph a better person, but I figured why not project my own depression onto Ralph, honest to god these two, isn't that what fanfiction is all about?, like Jesus Christ guys he's a good guy now smh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-21
Updated: 2018-07-21
Packaged: 2019-06-13 22:07:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15374379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/godbless_shitposting/pseuds/godbless_shitposting
Summary: "Barry has to start laughing at Ralph's jokes at some point, right?"





	Made You Laugh

It had been a rough couple of weeks for Ralph Dibny. Knowing that death is constantly staring you in the face in the form of some bitch-ass, body-stealing, floaty-chair piece of garbage would be enough to make anyone pretty upset. Of course, what kind of hero would Ralph be if he burdened his team with that?

 _His_ team? No, no. This was Allen's team. That had been made abundantly clear multiple times by everyone in that little group.

Nonetheless, Ralph liked making his jokes for his friends. Even if it was nothing more than a thin veil that barely covered his crippling anxiety. Something that nobody else could appreciate. Yes, he had had that little heart to heart with Barry about making jokes when he's scared, but that information didn't seem to reach anyone else. Ralph guessed he could consider it some sort of blessing in disguise. A good one, at that. Telling Barry about his insecurities made him feel pretty damn vulnerable, so the less people that knew what was under Ralph's confident facade, the better. On the other hand, the eye-rolling of everyone in a room when Ralph wanted to lighten the mood was wearing real thin, real fast. And there was a certain speedster he wanted to impress in particular.

Yes, it was tough shadowing the Flash. For example,  _being in the Flash's shadow._ The Elongated Man was even worse than the Stretchy Man, but the name ended up sticking. Why Cisco never gave him a name was beyond him. Maybe something to do with Cisco hating Ralph with every fiber of his being? Nah. Ralph didn't wanna go down that rabbit hole.

Again.

He was trying to make a name for himself. He wasn't just the Flash's sidekick, he was his own superhero. Even though he occasionally always fought with- no,  _for_ the Flash. He was more charismatic and didn't have a huge stick up his ass. Although, sometimes his suit would get up there, a legitimate concern that Cisco had tossed aside like week-old cream cheese that was, in reality, probably perfectly good. But not everybody likes cream cheese, huh? And it certainly seemed like Barry wasn't willing to be buddies with Ralph around anyone else. The only time Ralph saw him smile anymore was one-on-one.

But that's better than nothing, isn't it?

Ralph couldn't think of a single reason why Barry refused to let him be an actual part of the team. Ralph knew better than to believe he was being benched for his own safety. No, it was because he wouldn't stop making his jokes or coming up with stuff on the fly. God forbid Barry isn't in control of everything. But this had nothing to do with Ralph earning the respect of his teammates; that would be a long shot. He just wanted Barry to notice him. To understand that he was more than just a pawn in DeVoe's "Enlightenment" bullshit. To realize that he could be a real hero if only Barry would pay attention to him.

But all he could do was make jokes. Barry has to start laughing at Ralph's jokes at some point, right?

"Hey, Rookie," Ralph said. Only Barry's head turned toward him. To no one's surprise, everyone else had opted to ignore him. "Think fast."

Barry couldn't say anything before an empty bright red coffee mug with Barry's little "logo" on it (courtesy of Cisco) had been tossed into the air. No time passed at all before Ralph had a full cup of coffee in his hand. Still as a stone. Barry was sitting in the exact same position in which he had been before. He sighed.

"I'm already busy thinking about this."

As Ralph took a sip from the cup, which was thankfully full of warm coffee (the mere thought of cold brew and cold coffee in general never failed to have him in agony), he couldn't help but notice the slightest twitch upward's in Barry's lips. Knowing that leaving his chair would result in noise which would inevitably lead to unreasonable bitching from everyone in the Cortex at the moment (so Iris, Caitlin, and Barry), Ralph simply stretched his neck to look over Barry's shoulder.

"Watcha thinking about?"

"DeVoe's papers from before the particle accelerator."

"Why?"

"So I can find out what kind of motives he had before he was smart enough to actually do the Enlightenment."

"Why?"

"To find out what he intended to do without his dark-matter fueled insanity."

"Why?"

"Because I know he'll go to any lengths to achieve the goal he had before he knew how to do it. Maybe I can reverse-engineer his reasoning, something like that."

"Wh-"

 _"Ralph, shut up!"_ Iris shouted, causing Ralph to involuntarily flinch and his neck to assume its original position. "If you ask Barry why one more time,  _I'm_ gonna be the one on trial for murder. And I'll be _guilty."_

"As much as we're not gonna do _that,_ it _is_ pretty childish to keep asking why. And annoying. So... stop," Caitlin added, looking ready to pull her hair out. Ralph looked right into Barry's eyes, silently pleading for some sort of defense. Barry looked sorry right back at him, but nothing was said. Eventually his eyes flicked back to his tablet-laptop Transformer thing. Ralph didn't care what it was called, nor did he remember. And any more stupid questions would probably get the thing chucked at him.

"Right. I guess I'll make myself useful somewhere else," Ralph finally said, skulking off to the speed lab. On his way, he did not hear the cinematic  _stop, no, come back!_ Instead...

"Good luck with that," Iris muttered. Caitlin let a short, but heavy breath out of her nose as she smirked. But Ralph pretended not to notice. What would he have gotten by telling them off? Pride? No, it was better to stay out of their way.

That's what "heroes" like Ralph are meant to do. Stay out of the way.

He didn't know what to do once he got into the speed lab. It wasn't like he could have used it. He didn't have super-speed and he hated running more than he hated his scumbag dad, so the track was little use to him. He didn't know how to operate the lab's computers without doing something wrong, so they didn't do much for him, either. He settled for sitting on the floor and being alone with his thoughts. 

 _Sorry, I thought I was part of the team. I guess not, though. Why would I need to know anything about what you guys are doing about DeVoe? It's not like I could help. And even if I could, why would anyone want_ my  _help? I'm annoying and childish. I'm just another one of his targets. You guys are too good to hand me over to him even though it would probably save you a lot of Advil. But I'm not valuable. I'm just some guy with stretchy powers that you guys can use to get you out of trouble, but you want nothing to do with Regular Old Ralph, huh? Too bad. Maybe I could work really well with them if they'd let me. But they don't care. Barry doesn't care. You don't matter. When this is over they're gonna drop you off in Star City and wish you luck. You deserve it, too. You can't do anything right. You can't do anything without Barry. You're too weak without him. He'll never_

"What are you doing in the speed lab?" Barry's voice snapped Ralph out of his thoughts. Just in time. Ralph shrugged.

"I tried running on that track to see if I was secretly a speedster," Ralph automatically joked, a grin replacing what were about to be tears. "Turns out I am. And I'm so much faster than you."

"Really?"

"Big time. We can race right now. But if it looks like I'm running in place, it's because I'm just going so fast you can't even see it."

This got Barry to chuckle a little. Ralph couldn't help but let out a breath of relief. He honestly thought he'd be yelled at again. It happened approximately every five minutes.

"I'm sorry," Barry sighed, the smile he had already gone. The words sounded weird when they didn't come from Ralph.

"For what? You didn't threaten to murder me, so that's a win."

"It's just, everyone's on edge, and we just want to keep you safe. When you don't take it seriously, it can get a little frustrating."

"Yeah, no, I get it. I'm gonna stay in here so I don't get on anyone's nerves. I mean, that's how I'm most useful, right?" Despite Ralph's laughter, the truth stabbed into his gut like a blade. Barry's pity look wasn't helping either.

"I was looking for you to make sure you were okay," Barry admitted. Now _this_ took Ralph by surprise.

"I mean, yeah. I'm safe with you." Ralph was inclined to add _guys_ , but he knew that they would probably sell him to DeVoe for a single pizza pocket for all of them to share if it weren't for Barry.

Then Barry put a hand on Ralph's shoulder. That's when everything in his mind absolutely froze.

"I know what it's like to be in this situation, trust me. When I was younger, before I was the Flash, I wasn't on anyone's team for anything. Not in the sense that mattered. I felt useless, and I pretty much was. I wanted so badly to help people, but I couldn't."

"So you were like me."

"No, Ralph. I wasn't. Because you're brave. I wasn't. And sometimes, I'm still not. But it's gonna be okay, I promise."

"So what you're saying is," Ralph began, trying to wrap his mind around how the hell this was supposed to be making him feel better, "I'm brave but I'm useless because I can't help people because everything I do drives other people who are kind of my gateway to helping people away?"

"No, I-"

"Great pep talk, Allen. I'm fine."

Barry simply sighed, finally giving up and walking away, his fingers gently trailing down Ralph's arm as he did so. Ralph wished for the millionth time since he had been born, something he had never asked for, that he had no emotions. Or concept of betrayal.

When the Flash had first become a thing, Ralph was fascinated. And enraged. Why would anyone granted super speed become a superhero? It's a huge middle finger to law enforcement as well as a total waste of such an awesome power. Why save people when you could rob a bank in the blink of an eye? What have people ever done to help the Flash? But one time he got to see the Flash up close. There had been a car accident. The kind you'd see in Hollywood, what with the fire. And Ralph was trapped, surrounded by fire when his friendly neighborhood Flash saved the day. He was dizzy from moving so fast, so he couldn't see straight, but there were no words that could respond to  _are you okay_ when Ralph was entranced by a pair of soft, green eyes.

And when the Flash removed his mask and revealed that those eyes belonged to none other than Barry Allen, that piece of shit CSI that had cost him his job, it hit hard.

To say that he was heads-over-heels in love with the man was ridiculous, but not totally inaccurate. But how else could he show it other than dumb jokes? That way if he gets rejected it's because he wasn't being taken seriously. Problem solved. But this time, all he wanted was for Barry to take him seriously, for him to see that he was valuable. But how would that ever happen?

Ralph sighed and made his way back to the Cortex, where everyone had gathered.  _Give the people what they don't want, right?_

"Oh, good, you're all here for my stand-up special," Ralph began, ignoring the silent protests. "So let me ask you, we've stopped a lot of criminals together and apart, but what would it be called if one of those crimes was committed in an apple orchard?"

Silence. As expec-

"What?" Barry spoke up. Iris folded her arms. Caitlin rested her cheek on her palm. Cisco and Harry rolled their eyes in near perfect sync. But Barry was staring right back at Ralph with those damn eyes of his.

"Well, I'm asking you, but if I gave it my best shot, I'd say it's  _tree-son._ "

Groans all around, except for Barry, who had gone into a tiny little laughing fit. Ralph couldn't help but smile.

"Hey, I got a pity laugh, awesome!"

Eventually everyone walked out of the Cortex, all of them giving a brief synopsis of their plans for the night. Then only Barry and Ralph remained. Ralph glanced at the clock.

**11:32PM**

"Got another heart-to-heart for me, Rookie?" Barry laughed.

"I'd just be wasting my time if I spoke. But I do have a question."

"Shoot."

"Why do you still call me Rookie? Technically, you're the rookie on Team Flash." It was Ralph's turn to laugh at a ridiculous statement.

"I'm not really a member of the team though. You guys are just giving me shelter so it's easier to defeat DeVoe because he'll have less powers, so-"

"Hey," Barry interrupted, once more putting a hand on Ralph's shoulder. Ralph hated the queasiness it made him feel. "You're so much more than that, and I think you know it."

"Then why are you sidelining me? And don't give me any more of that 'you're protecting me' bullshit, because I want to help people just like you guys do, but, what? I'm too annoying to be out on the field? Maybe I can make a criminal just storm off by being myself. Hell, it works on Cisco!"

"You're an important part of this team, whether you chose to believe it or not. Don't forget that you've put your life on the line for them, and they'd do the same for you."

"And before I did that, I backed out. You had to talk me back into it."

"Yeah, well you're the rookie now, Ralph!" Barry's tone was getting harsher by the word, but Ralph could hear the occasional break. Not to mention he could also notice Barry's voice going up in pitch. "And it was your first time with something like that. The first time I couldn't save someone, I didn't want to be the Flash anymore. I watched Snart murder another person before my eyes, and I thought that since I couldn't save that one person, I shouldn't be the Flash. But I've saved so many more, and sometimes there are things you can't contr-"

 _"I'm not_ you _, Barry!"_ Ralph finally snapped. He couldn't take it anymore. "You watched your parents get murdered. My dad just left. You have sacrificed yourself to save the entire city, if not the world, on multiple occasions. I've stopped a couple robberies and smiled for the camera. You have respect and people who love you. I just have my shitty jokes that everyone hates because if I let them see beneath that, they can see that I really am nothing."

The silence was uncomfortable, to say the least. Tears were pouring out of Ralph's eyes as fast as the words that he ended up shouting at the floor. He couldn't stand to look at anyone. To let anyone see right through him. He didn't realize how hard he was trembling until Barry's arms were around him. When he heard Barry's quick sniff by his ear, he couldn't control the sobs that overtook him. After a few minutes of just holding Barry and being held by him, he found it in him to speak up to a whisper.

"I'm so scared, Barry," he confessed. "Please don't let go. Don't let them drive me out. Don't... don't let me die."

"That's not gonna happen," Barry whispered in an even quieter tone. His voice was up two octaves and was barely more than a breeze, but it meant everything. "I won't let you go. It's okay. I'm right here."

More time passed before Ralph was able to move again. He glanced at the clock.

**11:32PM**

"What the hell?"

When Barry dropped his arms, Ralph felt slightly dizzy.

"I might have accidentally taken you into Flashtime."

"Worst name ever."

"Worse than the Elongated Man?"

"Touche."

The two looked at each other and began laughing uncontrollably. This entire thing had been so ridiculous. Ralph felt so bad for dragging Barry down in his spiral, but he knew that Barry would always be there for him. Ralph hated being so vulnerable as to share the uncomfortable emotions with someone, but damn it, it felt so much better to get them out. And Barry was someone he could trust. He was the Flash. And he had a gorgeous pair of eyes.

"What did you mean when you said speaking would waste your time?" Ralph finally asked when the unreasonable laughter had ceased. He saw Barry's eyes widen, then shift to his feet. Barry ran a hand through his hair and sighed.

"Um, I was thinking a more, uh, hands-on approach?" he suggested to the hallway to the elevator. Ralph laughed.

"What's that supposed to-"

And that's when Barry kissed him. It didn't take a beat for Ralph to absolutely melt. Figuratively, of course. He didn't want to ruin this so early on. He wrapped his arms around Barry's neck, welcoming the closeness that he granted so few people. But Barry Allen was something special.

He laughed at Ralph's dumb jokes.

**Author's Note:**

> I tried so hard not to ship Barry with another fucking person. Literally every guest of the season (except,, ya know,,, Zoom) and Cisco and Snart and now this piece of shit that I love so much now that he's actually a decent (meta)human being.


End file.
